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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Heather Leavers of Tenterden, Kent, England, has a business called Niftyknits. If you've wandered around Etsy, you've probably noticed one of her knitted meerkats on the front page or in someone's treasury from time to time. Her Trekkie (Star Trek) meerkats are the ultimate in geek gifts. She has online shops on Etsy, Folksy, and Zibbet.

Heather's blog, So much yarn, so little time, had the most helpful post today. She gave her tips for selling internationally and several of the things she listed were completely new to me. Did you know that in the UK (England), jewelry is spelled "jewellery?" Knowing something like that can help you use the right tags in your product descriptions so international shoppers can more easily find your items. She also provided a link to calculators for translating USA sizes for clothing, shoes, and other items to sizes used for other countries. Getting advice from someone outside the United States has been very helpful. Please visit her blog to read the rest of her tips and tricks. She is also having a sale - 10% off all items in her Zibbet store.

From my own experience, I have noticed sellers trying to remind each other about different holidays that affect mail delivery. I have also seen several people have difficulties in sending international packages due to prohibited items or theft. If you are sending an expensive item, it is worth it to purchase insurance. My son sent a PSP to someone in the Ukraine who purchased it from him on eBay. The package made it to Ukraine, but was returned with a letter from customs saying the item was damaged. Packing materials were still inside the box (which had been opened with a knife), but not the PSP. Someone posted in the Etsy forums about having several packages seized by customs when shipping to Australia and New Zealand. After some discussion, she learned that it was because she was adding some sort of potpourri inside the package to keep it from smelling musty. Those island countries are very strict about what they let into their borders, so they rejected the foreign plant matter. A little bit of research can save you a lot of headaches.

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mad comments:

Thank you! I didn't know about the pot pourri, although from the standpoint of an allergy sufferer I'd avoid it like the plague. I've heard Italy is very fussy about allowing hats across the border, don't know if that is an urban myth!

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